Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Siddique Kappan, an Indian journalist, was released more than two years after his detention while traveling to report on an alleged rape.
In Uttar Pradesh state, where a young Dalit woman had allegedly been killed after being raped by four men from an upper caste, he was captured in October 2020.
Protests erupted in India as a result of the case. Police accused Kappan of planning to undermine law and order and encourage violence, which he denied. He was in a car that day with three other men who were charged with similar acts.
Indian Supreme Court
The Indian Supreme Court granted bail in one of the two cases against Kappan in September. In December, he was granted bail in the second case by the Allahabad High Court. But because of legalities, it took more than a month after that before he was allowed to go.
After leaving the Lucknow City prison on Thursday, Kappan declared he would keep fighting the accusations against him. Kappan, a native of Kerala, was detained on his way to the Uttar Pradesh area of Hathras while employed by the Malayalam-language news site Azhimukham.
He said that the police had tortured him physically and mentally after his detention. Additionally, his family claimed that he was denied access to his diabetes medications by the authorities.
Indian police denied allegations
They asserted that Kappan and his colleagues belonged to the Popular Front of India (PFI), a radical Muslim organization in Kerala that was banned the previous year due to alleged ties to terrorist organizations. This has been refuted by the PFI, and Kappan’s lawyer, and along with a Kerala-based journalist union to which he belonged.
However, the police added further accusations two days later, including sedition and provisions under a strict anti-terror law that opponents claim makes it nearly impossible to obtain release.
The Enforcement Directorate, which looks into financial crimes, brought another complaint against him in February 2021 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Kappan denied receiving funds from PFI to “incite unrest,” as claimed by the central agency.
